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Would you tolerate this behavior?

I can't believe how fast my DD is growing and changing! She's been crawling for a week now and it's so fun to watch her world expand. What's not fun is watching her experiment with nursing. Her newest trick is to roll onto her tummy while nursing side-lying (at bedtime or naptime) and then push up with her arms. At some point she will unlatch. I then watch as she carefully calculates the exact relationship between her mouth and my nipple and then lunge onto me with surprising accuracy. This is more amusing than painful, but it is also annoying. She's not quite ten months, and I'm not sure how much I should be limiting nursing behaviors at this point. She also pulls off and on a lot when nursing, but only because she's very distractible. A few times I've refused to allow her divebomb nursing, but she has gotten upset. It seems kind of early for this kind of discipline. Thoughts?

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

I don't even know at 16 months how much DD understands when I stop her from nursing because of stuff like that. She just throws a fit or just goes off and does something else.. I know she understands when it comes to biting or pinching and I think she started doing that when she was around 10 months.

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Oh, and I used to nurse DD laying down a lot because she was so distractable, but now for some reason it's the opposite. She's all over the place when she's laying down and when she's sitting up she's usually pretty content just to look around. At least it limits the amount of acrobatics she can do. Even if you still have to go into a quiet room to nurse it might be easier.

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

I wouldn't punish, but I do not let my son nurse if he wants to pinch me or kick or look around. They learn behaviours at very very young ages. So he is starting to get that nursing time is for nursing, and there is a different time to play. He is only 5 months now. I just offer another different time if he is trying to play. At 10 months I would expect him to really grasp that concept. Also think about in public, it will be hard if they learn that they can do these nursing gymnastics at home, then we will have our hands full trying to get them to behave in public! Just my thoughts.

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Originally Posted by @llli*djs.mom

I would NOT discipline a 10 month old for any nursing that is not painful.

So I should just lie there and let her do whatever she wants with my breast?

I guess my dilemma is that I want her to have fun nursing and feel that I'm available for her whenever she needs me, but not feel personally abused. Nursing is annoying me more lately in general, too, because she's been nursing at least every 2 hours around the clock. I don't really feel like I'm getting any breaks (not even at night) and so things like this just start to get to me. I just want her to get what she needs and get on with things, you know?

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Originally Posted by @llli*sarapunkinpie88

I wouldn't punish, but I do not let my son nurse if he wants to pinch me or kick or look around. They learn behaviours at very very young ages. So he is starting to get that nursing time is for nursing, and there is a different time to play. He is only 5 months now. I just offer another different time if he is trying to play. At 10 months I would expect him to really grasp that concept. Also think about in public, it will be hard if they learn that they can do these nursing gymnastics at home, then we will have our hands full trying to get them to behave in public! Just my thoughts.

I tend to agree with sara. We do no sort of punishing at our house, but if he is kicking around and playing then we end the session and he can play. If he is still hungry a few minutes later we try again and he usually settles down. I am a SAHM but we are out in public a lot so NIP is the norm, don't need him to think that he can be bouncing around all crazy

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Originally Posted by @llli*lizziesmom

So I should just lie there and let her do whatever she wants with my breast?

I guess my dilemma is that I want her to have fun nursing and feel that I'm available for her whenever she needs me, but not feel personally abused. Nursing is annoying me more lately in general, too, because she's been nursing at least every 2 hours around the clock. I don't really feel like I'm getting any breaks (not even at night) and so things like this just start to get to me. I just want her to get what she needs and get on with things, you know?

NO. That is not what I said. I said would not discipline a 10 month old for nursing behavior that doesn't hurt. You said it doesn't hurt. I am not sure how this post has people talking about kids hitting and kicking them? Since that is not what you are experiencing. I think it's really really unreasonable to expect a 10 month old to understand that you want to just *get to business*. You have worked hard to make sure your child is bonding with you while feeding. And at 10 months old they want to play. And love you at the same time. This, game of peek a boo, stopping and laughing popping off all can be irritating. But not discipline or control worthy. Some babies at this age BITE. Or Pinch. My son gave me a case of stress induced psoriasis on my breasts because he would NOT STOP twiddling. Those things cause pain. Those things need to be dealt with in a way that may cause tears. A child that bites usually needs to be put down. But to compare those things to what you have described here I don't think is fair. So I wouldn't try to discipline it. I wouldn't.

Originally Posted by @llli*lizziesmom

I can't believe how fast my DD is growing and changing! She's been crawling for a week now and it's so fun to watch her world expand. What's not fun is watching her experiment with nursing. Her newest trick is to roll onto her tummy while nursing side-lying (at bedtime or naptime) and then push up with her arms. At some point she will unlatch. I then watch as she carefully calculates the exact relationship between her mouth and my nipple and then lunge onto me with surprising accuracy. This is more amusing than painful, but it is also annoying. She's not quite ten months, and I'm not sure how much I should be limiting nursing behaviors at this point. She also pulls off and on a lot when nursing, but only because she's very distractible. A few times I've refused to allow her divebomb nursing, but she has gotten upset. It seems kind of early for this kind of discipline. Thoughts?

Yeah I wouldn't try to discipline an ALMOST 10 month old because I was annoyed.

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Originally Posted by @llli*sarapunkinpie88

I wouldn't punish, but I do not let my son nurse if he wants to pinch me or kick or look around. They learn behaviours at very very young ages. So he is starting to get that nursing time is for nursing, and there is a different time to play. He is only 5 months now. I just offer another different time if he is trying to play. At 10 months I would expect him to really grasp that concept. Also think about in public, it will be hard if they learn that they can do these nursing gymnastics at home, then we will have our hands full trying to get them to behave in public! Just my thoughts.

I get what you are saying, but I think what this viewpoint is missing is how different a MOBILE 10 month old is from a stationary 5-month old. In some ways 10 month olds are better able to pick up on a concept like this but in other ways they have more determination, energy, free will, independent sense of humor, drive to experiment, ability to entertain themselves with something besides nursing, shorter attention span...you name it. While some of the foundation you are building may help you at the stage the op is describing, the stage will come, I promise. Where you are like, oh dear lord, can't you just settle down to nurse calmly for 60-90 seconds??? PLEASE???

To the OP, things I have found helpful are, sitting up, handing a toy to play with while nursing, putting her down to play until she's hungrier/thirstier, putting my shirt back on and doing a calmer thing for a while like reading a book. In other words i don't consider it something to not ALLOW, but i will certainly redirect and attempt to minimize the behaviors that annoy me but don't hurt. And on MY end, it has sure helped finding humor in her antics as long as they are not painful. The lunging shark-boob thing can be annoying but it's also kinda hilarious. And realizing that everything IS only a phase. The lunging thing has been going on here for a few months, and is getting naturally phased out now. Not sure if any of that helps but I assure you we BTDT!!

Mom to Taiga born 6/2010Pocket cloth diapers. Baby led solids. Full-time working mom. I my DH, DD, kitty Dr. Benway, and my working border collie Odin!
BF for 1 year and she and I still love it !!!!

Re: Would you tolerate this behavior?

Sorry can't edit...also my dd likes nursing standing up now, I stand her on the bed and stand next to her and she will focus really well that way! maybe not a solution for everyone or certainly for every situation, but I figure a full and varied toolbox is helpful!

Mom to Taiga born 6/2010Pocket cloth diapers. Baby led solids. Full-time working mom. I my DH, DD, kitty Dr. Benway, and my working border collie Odin!
BF for 1 year and she and I still love it !!!!